Historical Ecosystems and Fire Return Intervals
LANDFIRE’s Biophysical Settings
LANDFIRE’s Biophysical Settings (BpSs) are the source data for the maps and charts below.
BpS models represent the vegetation system that may have been dominant on the landscape prior to Euro-American settlement. These models are based on a combination of the current environment and an approximation of the historical disturbance regime. Read more.
Check out this 3-minute tutorial for a quick refresher on the basics of Biophysical Settings Models.
Use this page as a starting point to explore the most prevalent BpSs for your analysis area. In addition to the charts and maps, the historical disturbance data can be directly accessed using this site.
Most prevalent historical ecosystems and fire return interval map
In the map below we present the most dominant historical ecosystems and historical fire return intervals per 10k acre hexagon.
Map tips:
- Hover over hexagon to get label of selected layer
- If you have multiple layers selected in top-right layer control box, the top one will be displayed.
- Colors of Existing Vegetation Cover and Height charts below match those of the map
Biophysical Settings with minor representation removed from map and chart below for clarity
Historical Fire Regimes
Historical fire regimes split out by fire type
Associated Biophysical Settings descriptions
Below you will find a list of Biophysical Settings (BpS) in the map and chart linked to their descriptions. Note:
- There may be multiple BpS names listed. If so, this is because your landscape spans multiple LANDFIRE Map Zones and has multiple ‘variants’ for those BPSs.
- The names below are followed by a number in parentheses. The first 5-digit number is the BPS Code. The following numbers reprent the Map Zones. For example, “13020_65_66” is ‘Laurentian-Acadian Northern Hardwoods forest’ BpS (13020) in Map Zones 65 and 66.
- The map below will help orient you to the Map Zones for your landscape.